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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25664002">Infatuation</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainey_Arlet/pseuds/Rainey_Arlet'>Rainey_Arlet</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Descendants (Disney Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Carlos de Vil-centric, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Multi, Unrequited Love, unrequited Ben/Carlos</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:34:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,576</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25664002</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainey_Arlet/pseuds/Rainey_Arlet</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>As the inevitable downfall of Auradon approaches, Carlos examines his feelings for the soon-to-be King of Auradon.</p><p>unrequited Benlos.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ben/Carlos de Vil, Ben/Mal (Disney: Descendants)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>41</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Infatuation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> When they first arrive at Auradon, riding the magic limo across that uncrossable stretch of water, Prince Ben is standing at the gates, waiting to greet them. Welcoming music and warm sunshine burst through the plaza, and while they’re reluctant to say it out loud, the VKs have to admit it; everything about Auradon is breathtakingly beautiful. From the stately old castle to the lush green forests, every last thing in the kingdom is pleasing to the eye. Most extraordinarily, the noon sun shines bright and uncovered; unlike the clouded, foggy skies of the Isle, the sky of Auradon is bright blue, with sunlight pouring from the sky in streaming waves of golden heat. Carlos sees Evie’s eyes flicker in excitement the moment they step out of the limo, and though Mal and Jay are clearly trying their best to look unamused, he can see the corners of their lips curl up into a grin.</p><p> In short, Auradon is utterly, absolutely magnificent.</p><p> When Carlos stumbles out of the vehicle, dark eyes darting from the blue sky to the crowds of onlookers, anticipation and unease bubble in his chest. Beautiful as it is, the kingdom is intimidating. Everything in Auradon, from the bright-coloured clothes of the students to the dazzling smiles planted on their faces, seems to glitter and shine. But when he first lays his eyes on the golden prince of Auradon, who is gorgeous beyond measure, everything else fades out into a blur of grey. Carlos has lain his eyes on what looks like the most beautiful boy in existence, and try as he might, he can’t tear his awestruck gaze away.</p><p>Unbeknownst to the younger boy gawking at him, Prince Ben introduces himself with a smile, approaching each VK with an outstretched hand in greeting. But Carlos is too wonder-struck at his handsome face and clean-cut clothes that when the prince walks up to him, he doesn’t realize what he’s trying to do. He flinches back from his hand instinctively, wary of a stranger’s touch. It isn’t until Mal shoots him a reproachful look over her shoulder that he realizes Prince Ben is trying to shake his hand.</p><p> When he shakingly grasps the prince’s hand in his own slender palm, an odd feeling of lightheadedness overcomes him and almost sweeps him off his feet. Something strange and fleeting washes over him like a huge wave slamming into the rough shores of the Isle; except this wave is warm and pleasant, and tingling to his senses. It’s not as grey and icy cold as the waves of the Isle, but just as strong and forceful and terrifying. It’s terrifying because he’s never felt anything like it ever before, but as soon as the wave washes over him, right from his head down to his toes, Carlos wants more of it.</p><p> Holding Prince Ben’s hand and gazing at his charming smile, Carlos doesn’t want to let go.</p><p> The moment is over as quick as it lasted, and Prince Ben draws his hand away. But Carlos feels the warmth of the prince’s hand embedded in his own, the rushing heat and stirring feelings still tingling inside of him, long after he is gone.</p><p>~</p><p> It takes a few days or so for Carlos to fully register his feelings, but it isn’t long before he realizes that he is absolutely head-over-heels for the Crown Prince of Auradon.</p><p> At first, he thinks it’s just attraction. His eyes follow Ben wherever he is, drawn to him like a moth attracted to blinding light. Ben is undoubtedly handsome, with broad shoulders and a smooth jaw and a pleasant face, but it’s more than simply that. Ben is just so kind, so understanding, so <em>good</em>. He is a thing of Carlos’s dreams; a sparkling prince of charm and goodwill, dripping in gold and radiating with light. He is like mellow evening sunsets and bright bush flowers and soft white sheets and sweet chocolate candy. He is like all the nice things in Auradon, all the wonderful things he and his friends have encountered in the kingdom, all the sweet things he could never even have dreamed of having back in the Isle.</p><p> Never, in the fourteen turbulent years of his abused life, has Carlos met someone like Ben.</p><p> Ben opens up a new world for Carlos, a world in which he can be himself. He can study all he wants to in the classes of Auradon Prep. He can wander through the vast castle library, picking out books as he pleases. He can fiddle with high-tech computers and gadgets for hours on end. Slowly but surely, Carlos starts to see the possibility of happiness in the kingdom. And for every step of the way, Ben is right next to him, offering endless words of encouragement and support, helping Carlos inch out of his shell.</p><p> Ben lets him see the world in a new light. Like a glorious knight in shining armour, like a dashing prince on a white stallion, he has rescued him from the Isle and opened the magical doors of sunshine and joy. Who <em>wouldn’t </em>fall for such a kind boy?</p><p> A villain infatuated with a prince. How stupid.</p><p> Carlos tells himself he needs to be cautious. He did not come to Auradon to study in libraries and crush over princes. He did not come to Auradon to find happiness. He came to Auradon to steal the wand. He came here with the sole purpose of obediently trotting back to the clutches of his mother, the fresh title of ‘villain’ forever imprinted onto him as Mal and Maleficent conquer the world. He knows he will be leaving Ben and the kingdom behind as soon as Mal grabs the wand for her mother. And when the wand lands in Maleficent’s hands, Auradon will burn to the ground.</p><p> Gazing into Evie’s shiny mirror, Carlos tells himself that he is not a damsel in distress waiting for a prince to rescue him. No, he is a villain from the Isle: a callous, low-life hood who is playing a part in Auradon’s downfall. He is a villain, destined not for love, but for darkness and corruption. He is a villain, and he will learn to act like a villain: cold-blooded, ruthless, and evil. He will not become friends with the prince of Auradon. He will not grow attached to the prince of Auradon. He will not <em>fall in love</em> with the prince of Auradon.</p><p> But try as he might, he can’t ignore the voice of his heart, not when it is yearning and longing for someone with such intensity. He can’t help himself gazing at the prince from afar. He can’t help his eyes lighting up in joy whenever the prince speaks to him or smiles at him or touches him. He finds himself clinging onto Ben’s every word, keeping them close to his heart like pieces of treasure; and he knows this is wrong, he knows this is silly, he knows this infatuation will only make stealing the wand more difficult for him, but much like he can’t resist chocolate, Carlos just can’t help himself.</p><p>~</p><p> Carlos de Vil never imagined he would relive one of his worst memories while tourney-training with Ben.</p><p> Once, when he was a child, Cruella became so furious at Carlos that she chased him with a kitchen knife. He remembers the terrifying sight of his mother with a knife held in her hand, screaming manically as she ran after him in her furs and heels. He remembers tripping down the stairs of Hell Hall, tumbling down an entire flight and splitting his knees open on the rough edges of the floorboards. He remembers running for his life, going as fast as his spindly legs could take him, his enraged mother screaming at him from behind with the sharp knife held in her gnarled fingers. With the front door being locked, he threw open a window and clambered out into the yard, before desperately scrambling up an old tree. He climbed and climbed and climbed, red blood spilling from his gashed knees and staining the cracks in the tree bark. With an enraged shriek, Cruella threw her knife at him with a mighty swing, and for a split-second, he could hear the blade whistling towards him and shooting past his ear- before it became stuck in a branch, an inch away from his head.</p><p> That’s what it feels like right now, running through the tourney field at full-speed. Snapping at his heels is the reason he dreaded coming to Auradon in the first place, the one thing in the world he afears more than his mother: a dog. Remembering the many times Cruella told him stories of vicious creatures who rip out the throats of little boys who don’t behave, Carlos runs like the wind, fleeing from the dreaded creature.</p><p> Ben runs after him, shouting his name worriedly, but Carlos is too wound-up and terrified to even think about Ben. The dog is fast, almost quicker than himself. In its barks and growls, he can hear his mother’s voice, her endless threats and insults and shrieks of anger ringing in his ears and echoing in his head. In a panicked frenzy, he scrambles up a tree, just like the many times he climbed up the gnarled tree behind Hell Hall to escape from his mother’s wrath.</p><p> Of course, it’s none other than radiant Prince Ben who comes to the rescue, coaxing him down from the tree and introducing him to Dude, the school mutt. In Carlos’s eyes, the furry beast in Ben’s arms is nothing more than a rabid pack animal, something to run away from. Its sharp fangs remind him of Cruella’s evil grin, its blackened claws remind him of her slashes and kicks. But Ben convinces him that dogs aren’t all that bad, and for some reason, he wants to trust whatever the prince says.</p><p> Carlos has never known love. But every day in Auradon, every moment he spends with Ben, he is learning. Maybe this is what love is: trusting someone enough to overcome your biggest fears, trusting someone with the most outlandish things, trusting someone enough to let them rewrite you.  </p><p> Carefully, he reaches his arms out and cradles Dude to his chest, feeling the soft, warm body of fur beneath his fingers. Having slept in Cruella’s closet his entire life, Carlos is all too familiar with his mother’s furs. But among those countless black and white fur coats lining that bear-trapped closet, not one of them felt as soft as the fur of a living, breathing dog. Dude relaxes against Carlos, gazing up at him with round black eyes, sparkly and adorable. And when the boy looks up at Ben in amazement, to see the handsome prince gazing at him intently with his own sparkly eyes, Carlos wonders if it’s possible to be in love with two beings at once.</p><p>~</p><p> “Guess you guys have it pretty rough on the island,” he says, staring at Carlos with sympathy filling his hazel eyes.</p><p> A moment of silence lingers in the forest. Carlos tenses, the small smile sliding off his face and his shoulders stilting. Clasping tighter onto the dog’s warm body, he looks up at Ben, who is still staring at Carlos with intent; watery gaze unfaltering.</p><p> Carlos gazes right back at him. Standing here, alone in the forest with Ben, away from his mother and his friends and the constant pressure to steal the wand; something just feels <em>right</em>. And for a split second, he has the urge to confess everything. He wants to spill his guts out and confess the VKs’ evil plan. He wants to tell Ben about every fear and anxiety and bad memory that lurks deep inside his chest. He wants to empty his heart of the heaviness that is weighing him down. He wants to bare himself open, show himself and heal himself, wash away the shadows inside of him with fresh tears and long confessions.</p><p> He wants to tell Ben he loves him, that he has never met anyone so kind and understanding, that he longs to feel the prince’s warm hand in his own and feel his strong arms wrapped around his shoulders.</p><p> But he doesn’t.</p><p> Instead, he holds his tongue and clutches onto Dude, feeling the dog’s warm soft fur matted in his fingers. Ben gives him a pat on the shoulder and leaves them in the forest, and only when he has completely disappeared from view, Carlos collapses onto a log and tries to shake off the tears brimming in his eyes, the heat from Ben’s hand smoldering in his shoulder.</p><p>~</p><p> When Mal learns that Ben’s girlfriend will be present at the front row of the coronation, she immediately comes up with a devious plan to deceive the prince and claim the wand. And from that moment, things start to spiral downwards at a plummeting pace for Carlos.</p><p> As long as nothing goes wrong, it’s a perfect plan: trick Ben with a potion and steal his heart, position Mal at the front row of the coronation, and when the chance presents itself, snatch the wand and run back to the Isle. After that, they can leave Auradon and step back into their parents’ shadows, silently watching as Maleficent destroys the kingdom and carries out her plan of world domination.</p><p> The day they will leave Auradon is coming nearer with every second, and with it, Auradon’s downfall is approaching.</p><p> Every time Carlos sees Ben, he feels sick with guilt.</p><p> But of course, he obeys and follows his friends, because the idea of betraying his best friends makes him feel even sicker. He never voices his opinion, nor does he show any disagreement to Mal’s plan. He helps make the love potion cookie. He plays his part in the plot. He does his very best to carry out whatever order Mal has for him. But inside, he feels bad. He feels bad that they are planning to steal Audrey’s boyfriend. He feels bad that they are deceiving Ben and his trust. He feels bad that this warm, colorful paradise of a kingdom will fall into the clutches of evil.</p><p> He feels bad that they are throwing away their only chance of having a better life.</p><p> But Mal and Evie and Jay seem so utterly determined to snatch the wand and please their parents that Carlos can’t bring himself to object. Instead, he sits on the floor and curls into himself, hiding his face in Dude’s warm fur, clasping onto the loyal friend that Ben introduced him to. Every time he looks at Dude, the handsome prince’s charming smile edges its way into his mind and a dull pain throbs in his chest, his conscious tightening in guilt and fear and worry.</p><p> Ben, Ben, Ben… Just his name brings a smile to Carlos’s face. The prince has introduced him to so many things. He has helped him overcome his crippling fear of dogs. He has given him a loyal canine friend. He has shown him trust and happiness. He has opened a new world for him, a world that glitters and shines, a world where he can be free from his mother. Ben has let him enter the golden gates of Auradon, giving him his utmost trust and sympathy, showing him that even a villain kid can have a chance for a better life.</p><p> And here he is, plotting to break that trust like the callous low-life hood he is.</p><p> If this plan succeeds, he will have to leave Auradon and Ben and Dude behind, running from his only chance of happiness and redemption, returning to the clutches of Cruella de Vil. Evie will probably snatch up a rich man and run off to a castle of luxury, just like her mother wanted her to. Jay will probably follow his father on his never-ending quest to re-gain power, fulfilling the role of an obedient servant. And Mal will most definitely take the wand to her mother and offer it with a proud smirk on her face, following the footsteps of Maleficent and magnificently continuing on her path to corruption.</p><p> His friends will live the lives their parents constructed for them. They will walk the ill path that has been paved for them by evil villains. They will live their whole lives in an overcast shadow, forever trying to please and gain approval from people who simply do not love their children. Young and naïve as he is, Carlos knows that Mal’s mother is manipulating her, and that Jay’s father is using him as a tool, and that Evie’s mother is drumming the wrong idea of love into her head. But he also knows his friends are desperate for parental love and approval. He sees the hidden looks of hunger and hurt always lingering in their eyes.</p><p> So Carlos gives up his selfish dreams of happiness, and lets his friends do what they have to do.</p><p>~</p><p> When his friends decide that Mal will be the one Ben falls in love with, the pain in his chest increases in volume and wracks his entire body. Of course, it’s the only obvious choice. Evie is on her own private mission to woo a rich prince, and Jay rejects the idea of romantic love altogether, so Mal is the only worthy candidate for the job. After all, Mal is pretty, and smart, and charming, and witty, and cunning, and all of the nice things and all of the attractive things Carlos isn’t.</p><p> It’s ridiculous, really. There’s no need for him to be envious. He knows that Ben’s love for Mal won’t be real. It will all be fake, fabricated from magic and evil, created by a simple potion. The moment the love potion wears out, Ben will open his eyes and realize that he actually despises her.</p><p> Still, Carlos can’t stop his heart from twisting in secret envy and jealousy. Even if it is all fake, Carlos wants to feel Ben’s love. It’s sick, it’s disturbing, and it’s so overwhelmingly confusing, but Carlos is so starved and hungry and longing for the handsome prince, for his touch and his warmth and his smile, that even love from a magic potion seems good enough. He wants to feel Ben’s warm hands and lips and embrace, the prince’s chest pressed against his and his fingers intertwined in his own. He wants to stare into those bright, trusting, deep hazel eyes for hours on end. He wants to feel Ben’s fake, fabricated, false love, because at the end of the day, Carlos knows Ben will never truly love him.</p><p> He is so, so desperate for something he can’t have. He is so, so desperate for someone who is not his. Perhaps he has become too greedy during his brief stay at Auradon; the endless shelves of library books and running electricity have likely disillusioned him into thinking he can get whatever he wants.</p><p> But he can’t. He knows he can’t.</p><p> Carlos’s feelings aren’t important. For the fourteen years he’s been alive, he has never thought of himself as important in the slightest. Nobody should care what he thinks. Nobody should burden themselves with his own feelings. Especially not his best friends, when they’re working so hard to achieve their goals.</p><p> So when Mal gives Ben the love potion-laced cookie, Carlos stands in the distance and watches silently. He watches Ben fall in love with Mal, and he watches his chances of happiness snap into two.</p><p>~</p><p> When Ben serenades Mal at the tourney game, Carlos joyously dances behind him. Carlos is a good dancer and a better actor. If there is anything he is good at, it’s masking emotions. All VKs are good actors. They have to be; they’ve learned from their villain parents and been toughened up by the rough currents and jagged shores of the Isle. Villains can live all their lives with a mask on their faces, tricking and deceiving everybody around them. Villains can smile charmingly while orchestrating heinous crimes in their heads. Villains can pretend to care deeply for someone when in truth, they don’t give a fig.</p><p> Villains can laugh and dance and act happy when they are hurt and twisted inside.</p><p> Joyful band music blasting in his ears, he watches Ben make his way through the bleachers to reach Mal. The crowds are going wild and the screams and cheers are deafening, but even in the blur of hundreds of faces Carlos can see Ben, shining like a beacon in his eyes. The prince sings his heart out, acting completely on auto-pilot, eyes glazed over and mind addled with the effects of the love potion. Carlos’s heart aches for the handsome, unsuspecting prince, and it aches even more when he reminds himself that Ben is being deceived by none other than himself and his friends.</p><p> Unable to look at Ben properly, Carlos hangs his head and tells himself that he is no better than his evil mother.</p><p>~</p><p> Finally, when they get to the coronation, Fairy Godmother’s daughter almost foils their entire plan by snatching the wand in a fit of insanity.</p><p> “If you won’t make me beautiful, I’ll do it myself!” she shrieks, the wand’s magic spiraling out of her control.</p><p> For a moment, Carlos is confused. Jane is going through all of this trouble, because she wants to be <em>pretty? </em>Is that all she has to wish for? Is that her only problem in life?</p><p> Perhaps Auradonians live such perfect lives that the only thing they can possibly care about is the size of their noses. It’s ironic, really. He and his friends have been fighting for parental approval and survival all their lives on the Isle, struggling with questions of self-worth and identity, living in the shadows and under the thumbs of their evil parents; but all plain Jane of Auradon cares about is <em>being pretty. </em></p><p> But at least poor, stupid Jane is honest about her feelings and desires. He himself can’t even speak up of what he wants. He can’t even say he wants to stay in Auradon, and he can’t even convince his friends that their plan is a bad idea, and he can’t even confess his feelings to Ben. Maybe he is more pathetic than Jane.</p><p> But there is no time to mull over feelings. Before he knows it, Mal is snatching the magic wand from Jane’s flailing hands and pointing it right at Ben’s face, her eyes fierce and glowing, her knuckles white with her grip around the wand.</p><p> This is it. Their last moment in Auradon. Oh, how he will miss it. How he will miss the beautiful kingdom and its beautiful prince.</p><p>~</p><p> “Because… because I’m listening to my heart!” Ben declares. Mal stares at him, shock and confusion and fear written all over her face.</p><p> Carlos lulls over the prince’s words. <em>I’m listening to my heart. </em>Of course Ben’s heart is as good and pure as his angelic smile and comforting words. Ben can listen to his heart with no qualms, because unlike himself, the newly-crowned king doesn’t have shameful feelings of guilt and unrequited love and fear and cowardliness lurking in the depts of his chest. Carlos’s heart is not something he wants to listen to. He knows that all he would hear is the hollow jangling from cracked pieces. Perhaps a few screams of pent-up pain and frustration, too. Maybe even a plea for help.</p><p> But this isn’t about him. This is about Mal and Ben. And Ben’s unmoving gaze at Mal is so sure and strong, so fierce and soft at the same time, that it takes his breath away. His eyes are no longer clouded with the effects of the love potion. His feelings of love for Mal are as real and true as the goodness in his heart; his gaze of trust says it all.</p><p> Carlos can see in Mal’s eyes the same emotion in his own heart; she has fallen for Ben. And while he is truly happy for the two of them, the ache in his heart suddenly grows even stronger.</p><p>~</p><p> After the coronation, there is a huge party in Auradon. Carlos has never seen anything quite so splendid, with so many people celebrating in sheer joy and happiness.</p><p> What’s even more blinding than the lights and fireworks glittering in the skies are the smiles on his friends’ faces.</p><p> For maybe the first time since they arrived at Auradon, Mal and Evie and Jay are actually smiling. They are smiling, not to mask their true feelings, but genuinely. They are smiling without any thoughts of doubt or feelings of worry pent up in the backs of their heads. They smile and laugh and dance in joy, happy to be free from the burdens weighed on their shoulders by their parents. They are no longer desperate, nor are they obediently following orders. For the first time, his friends have made a decision for their own; a decision to be good. They have chosen to step aside from the paths paved for them by their parents.</p><p> They are no longer deceiving others. They have cast aside their masks. And for that relief, they are celebrating.</p><p> Carlos celebrates alongside them. He is happy for his friends, truly, with all his heart. He is happy for himself, too, because now he knows that he will never have to walk back into the clutches of Cruella de Vil. But Carlos’s inner battle is not over. In the depths of his heart, part of his turmoil is still raging on inside of him. His friends have finally cast away their masks and let their true selves free, but deep down, he knows that he himself is still deceiving everyone else. He is hiding the flashes of pain in his eyes with smiles and laughter. He is dancing energetically while his heart is going limp. He is still clinging onto a façade, hoping that nobody will notice how broken his eyes become whenever they settle on the newly-crowned King Ben.</p><p> Oh, how wonderful Ben is. In Carlos’s eyes, Ben shines brighter than any firework bursting in the sky. He is radiant, he is glorious, he is as good and kind and understanding and caring and sympathetic and charming and just as marvelously wondrous as ever; a star in the sky, a light in his life, the reason for his happiness, the reason for his pain. The flame of unrequited love burns on inside him, brighter and stronger and hotter than ever, scorching him and clouding his mind and filling him with sweltering heat and smoke.</p><p> If only Ben was his. If only Ben was his to keep and love.</p><p> But that’s a ludicrously selfish wish. Ben belongs to Mal, and Ben will stay faithful to Mal. Ben is now the source of Mal’s happiness. Whatever happens, Carlos will never, ever steal anything or anyone from his good friend and leader.</p><p> So, like he did at the tourney match, he smiles and laughs and dances. He smiles until his cheeks hurt, he laughs until there are tears in his eyes, he dances until his legs give out.</p><p> And it’s just the way Ben leans in to kiss Mal at the end of the night, fireworks and music and lights blazing behind them, hazel eyes full of love and warm hand lovingly held in hers, that lets Carlos know the handsome king is gone for sure.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading! Feedback and criticism much appreciated!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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